Mobile phone fraud alert

POLICE are warning the public to beware of a new scam after a Forfar resident was the victim of a mobile phone sim fraud and had a five-figure sum of cash stolen.

Action Fraud warned that perpetrators purchase the victim’s personal details, obtained through the spread of Trojan malware, and online bank account details and statements are extracted.

Using the victim’s banking details to gain telephone access to the bank account, the fraudster opens a parallel business account in the victim’s name.

A spokesman said: “Details of the victim’s mobile phone, again extracted from the purchased personal data package, are then passed to an individual who specialises in the so-called sim split step.

“This person then uses the bank statement obtained through the hacking to establish the mobile network the victim belongs to.”

This enables searches using the victim’s details to ascertain potential answers to security questions.

Once the mobile network provider is established, the fraudster obtains a blank sim card, contacts the phone provider and tells them the mobile phone has been lost/damaged.

The new sim card is activated while the victim’s is cancelled. As soon as the sim card is activated it becomes possible to transfer funds from the victim’s current account into the new business account.